August 2022: A Summer Girls Trip to Disney: Day 5, Part 2

 Day 5: Part 2

By the time my two week journey was complete, it was time for second breakfast. I snagged a Mickey pretzel and cheese at the cart in Africa. It was a little dry, but overall pretty tasty and was nice and portable to eat while walking to Asia. 

Single rider for Everest was basically a walk-on and it was so exciting to finally ride Everest again. I mean, I know I rode last summer, but it was down for refurb in February and that was just torture seeing them test trains, but not be able to ride. 

After Everest, I headed back to Africa, stopping for some pictures along the way. People, the best picture taking spot for the Tree of Life is any of the number of view points along the walkway from Asia to Africa…in the morning.

It was time to check in for my tour. I was doing the Caring for Giants tour, and check in was an easy process at the kiosk near the entrance to safaris (which was now posted as a 75 minute wait…stay on property and rope drop people!). Check in was easy, and pretty soon I was in possession of my nametag, made from elephant poop paper (no really…read the fine print on the back of the tag). They ask you to check in 15 minutes before the tour time. By the time I finished signing the waiver, I only had to find a patch of shade to wait about 10 minutes.

Promptly at 10:00, our guide for the tour rounded up the group. She gave us the dos and don’ts for going backstage and then led us to a waiting mini bus backstage. Once everyone was seated (and buckled!), we headed out, with the CM telling us all about what we would see, Disney’s involvement in the species survival program, and elephant enrichment. It was a 10-15 minute bus ride back to the backside of the safaris where the viewpoint was, so it was a great opportunity to a) catch some air conditioning and b) get the learning in.

Once we’d parked at the ramp to the viewing area, we headed up to spend the next half hour watching the elephants and learning more about the herd and specifically about the 2 elephants in front of us. This viewpoint is basically on the backside of the safaris, so the view I had is NOT guaranteed, but it was an awesome half hour that passed very quickly. 

When our time was up, we loaded back into the bus, and the CM drove us back to Harambe. 

My understanding about Caring for Giants is that the experience can vary based on what the elephants are up to, but my experience was excellent. I think this tour cost $35 when I took it (who knows what Cheapass has raised the price to at this point) and it was $35 well spent. Total time was an hour, and with the early park opening, the 10:00 timing worked perfectly for me. I’d definitely recommend this one. It DOES book up, so book it when your Enchanted Extras window opens (the same day your dining window opens)

Next stop now that the tour was done? A little Epcot pre-gaming. I’m a sucker for POG juice and had found out that the Dawa Bar has a cocktail that involves POG. I needed to try it, because POG juice. So I got the Ngumu Jungle Juice and then headed to Dinoland to retrieve my lunch that I’d mobile ordered while in the bar line. The Ngumu Jungle Juice was absolutely as delicious as I’d hoped. 

When I got to Dinoland I hit the “I’m here” button and then waited just a few minutes for my mobile order to be ready before I headed inside Restaurantosaurus. This place was pretty chaotic but pretty soon I had my chili fries and an empty cup in my possession. Much to my surprise, this place does self serve sodas. This was a bit of a cluster, complete with a 10-12 year old bumping into my tray and spilling my sprite all over me, but, I made it to a table eventually, minus a fork. This is the downside to solo travel. I debated heavily for a minute whether I was going to abandon this table that I’d managed to find in a quiet corner of the restaurant, away from people hacking up a lung to get a fork to eat like a civilized person, or figure out a way to use the fries as a vessel for the chili and not give up the table. I went with the latter option, because there was no fork station visible nearby and I try not to leave my stuff out of my sightline. I managed the second option without getting much chili on my fingers. These fries were delicious, and a cheap way to get lunch. Also, I continued the meat, cheese and potatoes tour of Disney World!

While eating, I debated heavily how to spend the rest of my time. I wanted to make sure I had enough time in Epcot for more festival dining. I wanted picture taking time in Animal Kingdom. I wanted rest time. Dammit, why do I always leave Animal Kingdom for the end of the trip when I can’t give it the time it deserves because I’m trying to finish everything?!

In the end, I headed out to do some picture taking in the front of the park. People, walk the Tree of Life Gardens trail. If I have, it’s been years since I’ve done so and woah…so amazing. 

Then I headed for the bus. It was really freaking hot today.

I made it on a loading bus and was back at French Quarter soon enough. I ended up putting on my swimsuit and heading for the pool (3 times this trip…woah!). It was even more difficult to find a chair today, but eventually I did, and then hot lava walked into the pool, agreeing with the kid that I heard telling his family that “if your feet want to get burned, this is the place”. The pool felt great today and was a perfect way to unwind.

Once I was sufficiently cooled off, I headed back to the room via the pathway along the water. This really is such a beautiful, tranquil resort. 

August 2022: A Summer Girls Trip to Disney: Day 5, Part 1

Day 5: Sunday August 21, 2022

The alarms went off pretty early this morning. It was Animal Kingdom day for me, and Jessie’s Mears Connect pickup was about the same time Animal Kingdom was opening so we both needed to be up and moving early, for wildly different reasons.

Once I was ready for the day, we said goodbye and I headed for the bus stop. I must have made it there by 6, because my texts say the Animal Kingdom bus rolled up at 6:04. People…get to the bus stop 90 minutes before (early entry) opening. It’s worth it. I ended up being the only one on the bus again, even with the bus sitting at French Quarter until 6:12. I believe this was so the bus would get to Animal Kingdom without having to wait in a holding area. The bus rolled in right at 6:30. And yes, the only reason I remember specific timing details is because I went back and re-read text messages.

When I got to Animal Kingdom I was reminded of the thing I appreciate most about early mornings during August trips. It’s so nice to get to the parks while it’s still mostly dark out…especially Animal Kingdom. Could there be ANY less shade on the walk to/from the non-deluxe resort buses at Animal Kingdom?! This morning, though, with the sun not up yet (seriously…peep the moon), it was nice and…not brutally hot walking to the security line.

 
It was about a 15 minute wait before they opened the security lanes. I’d taken my dSLR out of my backpack and was thanked for that by the security guy that directed me to hold it in front of my head, and again by the security guy watching the screener monitors. If you have something bulky, take it out of your backpack!

I moved quickly towards the tapstyles, where I ended up at the front again. 3rd time in 4 days!

The wait here passed quickly enough. The folks behind me were a mother daughter group of teachers and future teachers from Canada, so we chatted until the tapstyles were opened up and then it was full speed ahead to Pandora…after passing through the resort guest checkpoint. Thankfully the technology was working this morning, unlike when Nick and I were here in March, so it was a quick process.

I landed in a pretty good spot on the bridge to Pandora, and they started moving the mass of humanity quickly, so pretty soon I was winding through the miles of queue for Flight of Passage without any real wait. I know I do a lot of waiting in the rope drop process, but it still feels more productive when I get to basically walk on the headliner than waiting in the post rope drop real lines, even if the opportunities to stop to take pictures are minimal.

Flight of Passage was awesome as usual. Navi River was still a walk on (although not posted as such because Genie+ money grab), so I went there next. I will never understand why they made the load zone for this one so small. It’s well done, but not 2 hour wait well done.

Next up? Africa! I did some picture taking along the way, including some that are technical failures, but that I thought just looked kinda cool.

The safaris was posted around a 20 minute wait I think, and was in fact a 20 minute wait. This worked perfectly with my schedule though and also gave my camera lens the opportunity to defog after living in the air conditioned hotel room for days. Today was absolutely feeling like FL in August!

It was a pretty awesome safaris, complete with elephants sparring!